The Delivery at Lawn Bowls: Controlling Weight

My Bowls are Yellow

Controlling weight is the most popular topic of inquiry on this blog; therefore I add the following.

There is a lot of confusing advice about how to control the distance a bowl travels after you release it from the mat. I discern that one big reason for this is that the answer needs to be different depending on how long the questioner has been bowling.

What I have found is that until you have bowled for about six seasons your subconscious does not have enough experience to know how to deliver the correct ‘weight’ on its own.  That is, it is not intuitive. You need to think about each delivery and adjust elements of your physical delivery consciously. You have to think about changing something: your bowl elevation, length of step, degree of crouching, whatever. When you read advice to make these specific adjustments, you need to understand that this advice is for newer bowlers who are just learning the game or bowlers who have made significant changes in their physical delivery.

Once you have been bowling for some time, (for me it was six years bowling year-round), these instructions do not apply. In fact, they are harmful. 

Your delivery should have become grooved by then. There is now another group of advice articles that apply. They will tell you something like the following:

 

You need to flood your subconscious mind with confident messages. Your body should relax. Let your conscious mind deliver reliable data to your subconscious (the wind, the green speed, the position you want the bowl to stop). Consciously set yourself properly on the mat; visualize the path for the bowl; then as you begin your delivery turn control over to your subconscious. Your conscious mind should go blank. You are ‘in the groove’. Your body spontaneously just does the required thing!

Until the delivery has become as natural as walking or driving a car, these latter instructions are madness. For newer bowlers, they just confuse and lengthen the learning process. For bowlers who have grooved their deliveries thinking about the physical mechanics, trying to control weight with the conscious mind blocks progress.

The Delivery at Lawn Bowls: Weight Consistency and Line Consistency All in One Magical Step

I have achieved a quantum leap in my lawn bowling performance that has not been matched by anything since I adopted the Shooters’ Stance several years ago.

Here it is. Clear and simple. Look at my diagram (I am left handed-so you will have to adjust for right-handed delivery).

From the Shooters’ Stance, I select a stare point about 5 meters in front of the mat line on my aim line. Nev Rodda in his second video explains that the Shooters’ Stance teaches that you should ‘aim’ with your forward stepping foot.  What I have found is that you don’t just generally point that foot along your aim line, you carefully point it precisely at your stare point and when you step you step out placing that advancing foot right on the line running to that stare point. Then, two good things happen. First, your bowl passes more consistently over that stare point, and second, more amazingly, because your advancing foot is completely aligned with the stare point your body smoothly rocks forward. Your weight transfers smoothly first to your heel, then the ball, and then the toes of that foot as you walk off the mat. The result is remarkably improved weight control!

Previously, I was stepping forward but my foot was sometimes not properly pointed. The result was that I couldn’t smoothly roll my body weight forward into the delivery so I got a varying contribution of body momentum for each shot. This meant I couldn’t control the initial velocity of my bowl.

There is more good news! Because line and length are so much improved my confidence is over the top and this allows me to think authentically positively about the outcome of every shot and when you believe you can do it, you just do it!

Fixing Narrow Lawn Bowls on the Fly

Down at the local bowls club for the morning draw the other day I got paired with a lady who consistently brought her arm across her body causing narrow bowls that crossed the center line and ended up wide by at least a meter. She was aiming her bowls at the forward boundary marker but because of her swing, they swerved in. Nevertheless, this novice lady’s delivery was not random but quite dependable, so there was a cure that I effected without saying a word to her. When our side got possession of the mat, I helped her move it up almost to the hog line and got her to deliver the jack to near the forward ditch. 

Because she was a new bowler she continued to play her aim line to the forward boundary marker instead of just maintaining the same delivery angle; so now her line was too wide, but because she bowled consistently narrow the two mistakes canceled each other out with the result that her bowls came right back to center rink. 

This new bowler needed a bit of coaching but the middle of a social game is not the proper time for coaching. Sometimes, like in this instance, a skip can make a change that ameliorates a team member's weakness. 

Lawn Bowling Skills Development Exercises

For the last two summers, I have run a clinic at Etobicoke LBC in Toronto Canada for lawn bowlers who are no longer beginners but still want to accelerate improvement in their bowling skills using some drills. I call it the Skills Development Challenge. I do not coach attendees although I remain on the green to answer questions or to help any new bowlers who show up.

 I set up 8 rinks each arranged to test a skill that if mastered can improve their game. I tell participants that it is a playground. They can start on any rink using their own bowls. They can try all or whichever challenges they want. They should just move from low rink numbers towards higher ones so they don’t collide with other participants. Each person gets a handout explaining what is going on at each rink site. In this blog, I attach the handouts for each of the four weekends. In my case, the green is open Sunday morning from 10:30am-12:01pm. 

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE  2019 (1)

Rink 1 Deliver two jacks, one after the other, to between 21 and 23 meters (short jacks)

Then deliver two consecutive jacks to within 4 meters of the front ditch (long jacks).

Control of jack length is one of the two tools your side has to stay ahead. What is the other?

IMPORTANT FOR LEADS AND SINGLES BOWLERS_____________________________________

Rink 2 Deliver 4 bowls with the same weight over a single stare point marked with a beer coaster;

See whether you can pick up ALL 4  of your bowls from the green afterward without moving your feet from one place. The correct weight is 90% of the game; line is only 10%.

IMPORTANT FOR ALL BOWLERS______________________________________________________

Rink 3 Your opponent(s) have a very close shot bowl. Bowl 4 bowls so each of your 4 bowls finishes either within one mat length of the jack or ends up behind the jack; don’t be short. [When you’re down (in the head) be up!]

IMPORTANT FOR ALL BOWLERS______________________________________________________

Rink 4 Add or subtract length. Deliver your first 2 bowls trying to reach the length of your skip’s shoe, which is placed 1 meter beyond the jack; With your next two bowls try to subtract a meter.

The object is to avoid bowling short by first getting behind the jack and then correcting to get to the jack; avoid short bowls!

IMPORTANT FOR ALL BOWLERS_____________________________________________________

Rink 5 Draw around bowls to reach the jack; change where you stand on the mat if necessary. It isn’t necessary to change hands to avoid bowls in your line.

IMPORTANT FOR ALL BOWLERS _____________________________________________________

Rink 6 Remove a  single opposition bowl. Hit the shot bowl and move it back. Quite often the best way to score is to knock out an opposition bowl. Hitting a bowl is much easier than hitting a jack.

IMPORTANT FOR SKIPS ______________________________________________________________

Rink 7 Bowl between the two smaller markers with the weight to reach the large marker behind.

You can try with each of your bowls but don’t be short and block yourself.

IMPORTANT FOR VICES AND SKIPS ___________________________________________________

Rink 8 Draw to within 2 meters of the front ditch aiming towards a ditched jack. 

IMPORTANT FOR SKIPS ______________________________________________________________

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE  2019 (2)

Rink 1 Deliver a jack and then immediately follow with a bowl delivering with the same rhythm speed. Rhythm speed is the combined swing of your arm and length of your step. Repeat- first jack then bowl. Delivering the jack first is one of the best ways for the lead to get the proper length.

IMPORTANT FOR LEADS AND SINGLES BOWLERS_____________________________________

Rink 2 Deliver 4 bowls with the same weight over a single stare point marked with a beer coaster;

See whether you can pick up ALL 4  of your bowls from the green afterward without moving your feet from one place. The correct weight is 90% of the game; line is only 10%.

IMPORTANT FOR ALL BOWLERS______________________________________________________

Rink 3 Your opponent(s) have a very close shot bowl. Bowl 4 bowls so each of your 4 bowls finishes either within one mat length of the jack or ends up behind the jack; don’t be short. [When you’re down (in the head) be up!]

IMPORTANT FOR ALL BOWLERS______________________________________________________

Rink 4 Deliver one bowl to each of four lengths marked by tennis balls. The correct weight is 90% of the game; line is only 10%.

IMPORTANT FOR ALL BOWLERS_____________________________________________________

Rink 5 On-shot through your team’s bowls in front of the jack. Promote your team’s short bowls.

IMPORTANT FOR VICES AND SKIPS________________________________________________

Rink 6 Remove a  single opposition bowl. Hit the shot bowl and move it back. Quite often the best way to score is to knock out an opposition bowl. Hitting a bowl is much easier than hitting a jack.

IMPORTANT FOR SKIPS ______________________________________________________________

Rink 7 Bowl between the two smaller markers with ‘ditch’ weight. You may need to break up a head when you are badly down. No more power is required than ‘ditch weight’. Extra power gives up accuracy.

IMPORTANT FOR VICES AND SKIPS ___________________________________________________

Rink 8 Push up one of your team’s short bowls.  A standing bowl is easier to move.

IMPORTANT FOR VICES & SKIPS ______________________________________________________

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE  2019 (3)

Rink 1 Deliver a jack and then immediately follow with a bowl delivering with the same rhythm speed. Rhythm speed is the combined swing of your arm and length of your step. Repeat- first jack then bowl. Delivering the jack is one of the best ways for the lead to get proper length.

IMPORTANT FOR LEADS AND SINGLES BOWLERS_____________________________________

Rink 2 Deliver 4 bowls with the same weight over a single stare point marked with a beer coaster;

See whether you can pick up ALL 4  of your bowls from the green afterward without moving your feet from one place. The correct weight is 90% of the game; line is only 10%.

IMPORTANT FOR ALL BOWLERS______________________________________________________

Rink 3 Add or subtract length. Deliver your first 2 bowls trying to reach the length of your skip’s shoe, which is placed 1 meter beyond the jack; With your next two bowls try to subtract a meter.

The object is to avoid bowling short by first getting behind the jack and then correcting to get to the jack; avoid short bowls!

IMPORTANT FOR ALL BOWLERS_____________________________________________________

Rink 4 There are two jacks and two mats on this rink. Deliver 4 bowls from the back mat aiming to reach the jack at the hog line. Then deliver your 4 bowls from the forward mat to the jack at two meters from the front ditch. Does your aim change with the different mat positions? Does your weight change?

IMPORTANT FOR ALL BOWLERS_____________________________________________________

Rink 5 Remove both opposing bowls with a single delivery. This is one of the biggest easiest targets you will ever be given.

IMPORTANT FOR VICES AND SKIPS________________________________________________

Rink 6 Remove a  single opposition bowl. Hit the shot bowl and move it back. Quite often the best way to score is to knock out an opposition bowl. Hitting a bowl is much easier than hitting a jack.

IMPORTANT FOR SKIPS ______________________________________________________________

Rink 7 Deliver two blockers- one to protect against a forehand draw and the second to protect against a backhand draw. With your next two bowls deliver one forehand draw and then one backhand draw. Are your blockers effective? The best blockers against draw shots are just 14 meters from the mat.

IMPORTANT FOR VICES AND SKIPS ___________________________________________________

Rink 8 Draw to within 2 meters of the front ditch aiming towards a ditched jack. 

IMPORTANT FOR SKIPS ______________________________________________________________

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE  2019 (4)

Rink 1 Deliver two bowls on your forehand and then two bowls on your backhand. Decide which is the more playable hand for you going in this direction. Now bowl two bowls on your forehand and two on your backhand coming back in the opposite direction. Again, for you, what is the more playable hand? Often , particularly on rinks that are not completely flat, one side is more forgiving of errors in line than the other and it is usually, but not always, the narrower side. Lead bowlers can often tell teammates the more playable side. 

IMPORTANT FOR LEADS AND SINGLES BOWLERS_____________________________________

Rink 2 The opposition has delivered a very close shot with their first bowl. Draw your side’s first bowl. Follow with three more good bowls.  It is even more important not to be short when the opposition has a very good shot bowl. As lead it is not your role to remove it. Try to deliver a good second best bowl; close but more importantly- behind the jack.

IMPORTANT FOR LEADS  AND SINGLES BOWLERS_____________________________________

Rink 3 Your side has delivered a very close bowl (6 inches).  Bowl 4 bowls so each of your bowls ends up behind the jack. Particularly, try not to bowl narrow; you do not want to separate your close bowl from the jack. The opposition will attack. The jack is very likely to move backward. 

IMPORTANT FOR ALL BOWLERS______________________________________________________

Rink 4 There are two jacks and two mats on this rink. Deliver 4 bowls from the back mat aiming to reach the jack at the hog line. Then deliver your 4 bowls from the forward mat to the jack at two meters from the front ditch. Does your aim change with the different mat positions? Does your weight change?

IMPORTANT FOR ALL BOWLERS_____________________________________________________

Rink 5 This is a test of measuring. Don’t bowl. Look at the head set-up. What do you measure? How many points does yellow score? Hint- After removing the uncontested bowls decide which is the best contesting bowl of the side that does not hold shot.

IMPORTANT FOR VICES AND SINGLES BOWLERS_______________________________________

Rink 6  Bowl to an off-center jack. This presents two problems: the possibility of ending out of bounds and estimating line & length over new grass.

IMPORTANT FOR ALL BOWLERS ______________________________________________________

Rink 7 Bowl your 4 bowls into this head and then count your score versus the bowls already behind the jack. Hint- If you touch the jack you can get in real trouble. If you bowl short you may block yourself. Try to rest your bowls on the opposing bowls behind or wick in off your own side bowls.

IMPORTANT FOR ALL BOWLERS ___________________________________________________

Rink 8 Bowl within two meters of the ditch because the jack is in the ditch. Be daring. The last two meters of grass is longer and the edge of the rink may have a small rise.

IMPORTANT FOR VICES & SKIPS______________________________________________________

You will notice that some challenges are repeated in different weeks while others appear only once. I emphasize that there is no need to come every week and no week is a prerequisite for later weeks.

Lawn Bowl Bias: On the Green and on the Test Table

Introduction

There was a prelapsarian time when all lawn bowls had about the same draw and furthermore, the rules of lawn bowls prescribed a minimum curvature that all legal woods should have. Whether for better or for worse this is no longer the case. Today, you can purchase traditional uniform sole wider swinging bowls or dual sole, narrow running bowls. The purpose of this blog is to better understand these issues concerning bowl bias.

The Present-Day Single Bias Test

There is at present only one test that a set of lawn bowls must pass to be acceptable to the lawn bowls regulators of the world. Each bowl must have at least as much bias as a working reference bowl (WRB) when rolled, without wobble, under standardized conditions, on a flat hard-surfaced table. This was not always the case. Before 2002, all bowls also had to have at least the bias of the WRB on a grass green or they had to pass a second table test which featured an initial 7% cant (tilt) of the bowl which produced an initial wobble on the testing table. In an action whose motives and blame has been in dispute ever since, the manufacturer’s representatives and the bowling organizations’ representatives, either out of guile or ignorance, eliminated these second phases for bowl testing. 

Why Bowls Bend

It is not an agreed fact that bowl’s curve only because of extra weight on one side of the bowl. In the web article, THE ROMANCE OF BOWL MANUFACTURE the late J. P. MUNRO wrote “contrary to the belief of many bowlers-and particularly those of the younger generation-the bias of a bowl is not brought about by extra weight on one side of the bowl, but by the shape of the crown or running surface, which is slightly higher on the non-bias side.” 

Changed Regulation Changes Manufacturing

Returning to the historic evolution of bowling bias, the change in the regulatory test regime had an immediate engineering consequence. Because a set of bowls now only needed to have as much bias as the WRB when released without wobble on the flat, hard testing table, only the curve of a narrow central strip of the running surface, (A) in the Figure, needed to be controlled so that in combination with the overall asymmetric mass of the bowl it would pass the new single-stage test. The two curved strips on either side of this central running strip, (B)s in the Figure, could be varied since they would not make contact with the hard testing surface. Manufacturers recognized that certain combinations of curvature for these edge running surfaces would cause bowls to run narrower on grass than the WRB.  In the diagram below, what I am saying is that the strip B on the left and the strip B on the right need not be mirror images.

How a particular bowl’s curved running surface interacts with different types of rinks would come to depend on what width of the running surface came into contact with that particular rink. If the bowl is rolling, without wobble, on smooth hardwood or linoleum the contact is only a very narrow band in the center of A. If the rink is a carpet, perhaps a wider portion of A is touching. If the surface is grass, the width of bowl touching the rink depends upon the length of grass; but certainly the A and  both B sections of the bowl’s sole would make contact. If the two B surfaces, acting together, have been engineered to subtract bias, then the bowl will run narrower on  softer playing surfaces than it ever ran on the hardwood test table.

How Wobble Effects Realized Bias

There is however a separate factor that, for these engineered non-uniform arc bowls, changes the exhibited bias on the hardwood test table. If such bowls are tilted slightly when they are set rolling down the test table they will wobble from side to side, at least initially, and this will cause both the A and B surfaces to contact the table. When modern era, dual sole bowls are tested with wobbling they do not exhibit the required minimum bias of the WRB bowl. But there is no longer a part B wobble test. Such bowls now pass the modern ‘bias test’ but go down an average grass green more narrowly than the WRB would. Some players who were brought up with the standard regulations of the last century sometimes call these dual sole bowls “cheater” bowls but they are no such thing. They are different because the regulation that tests bowls has changed and that has allowed a wider range of bowl performance than before. The unhappiness is understandable but, from my perspective, we need to play the game as we now find it!

The Pros and Cons of ‘Narrow’ Bowls

Because there are plenty of bowlers who believe that the game is easier to play with very narrow running bowls, such bowls, once they were ruled legal, were soon manufactured. These "variable geometry arc" types go down a green that is faster than 14 seconds with narrower than stated bias. It can be argued that they play the weighted run through (running) shots better, because hitting the head is less weight sensitive. Proponents also say they enable straighter drives, particularly on fast greens and particularly when delivered with an intentional wobble.

These claimed advantages are not without commensurate costs. For example, variable sole bowls may play quite well in the morning, when the greens are fresh but poorly in the afternoon when more tracking marks have been laid down, because when unbalanced sole bowls cross these runs at an acute angle they are more likely to be pulled offline. Even throughout the day, greater drawing inconsistency can be observed; some deliveries may turn into the head while others stay out. This is due to the bias-subtraction, inherent to these models, being disturbed not just by recently created ruts, but by wobble, wind, or general unevenness in the rink. Because of the latter, these dual sole bowls play poorer where green maintenance is an issue. All of these generalizations are more consequential for greens running 14 seconds or more such as most New Zealand rinks outdoors and rinks made with carpet, outdoors and indoors, everywhere. 

In summary, it is fair to say that narrow bowls play best in the hands of an experienced bowler who can consistently deliver bowls without wobble and who plays indoors where there is no wind and where the surface is hard and perfectly flat.

The balanced sole bowl is comparatively more stable because its profile is simpler but it can't be made to take the very narrow line down even the faster rinks that some players seek. It still probably has advantages for new bowlers or in high winds or on rutted or otherwise uneven greens. 

Playing the Extra End to Break a Tied Lawn Bowls Game

Many of my readers will have watched the top lawn bowlers playing sets on Youtube. There, in a tie breaker without exception, players who win the toss give the mat away and choose to have the last bowl. At the highest level, this is the best strategy, because there is little skill variation at different jack lengths and with different mat positions on an indoor carpet. 

This is not the case outdoors, at the club level, and particularly with teams. This was poignantly illustrated in an in-club drawn triples match yesterday as we opened the bowling season in Canada. I had squeaked out a tie at the end of the regular ends. For the extra end, we flipped a coin to decide who would have the choice and my opposing skip won.

His team comprised an excellent second-year bowler, a steady and competent 7th year bowler, and himself. My team comprised a first year lead playing in his first game, a 7th year bowler who was trying out new bowls for the first time, and myself. During the previous ends my tyro lead had bowled remarkably well and was most particularly noticeable on short jacks. On full-length jacks, he was either short or in the ditch. My second was all over the place with her new bowls and on long jacks, she was frequently out of bounds and without exception short. 

My skip opposite’s lead was inconsistent, both short and long, while his vice was in the head and more often than not behind the jack, even on long ends. Yet, with his choice, he gave away the mat and retained the last bowl advantage. In a singles match against me this would have been a reasonable choice since he is one of the club’s top bowlers; but, we were playing triples!!

Choose based on Team Strengths

When I lost the toss I thought I was doomed. Surely he would take the mat, call for a full-length jack and watch my colleagues flounder. But, as an automatic reaction perhaps, thinking of his own strengths, he took the last bowl and gave away the mat.

Overwhelmed, I called for a jack just a few meters past the hog line (to avoid my beginner lead delivering it too short); got it, and was rewarded with lead bowls close and behind the jack. Then my vice, because the length was less challenging, managed reasonably with her new bowls. Now my opposition skip faced a challenging head when he came to the mat. When the dust settled, my team had the three closest bowls in a situation where we only needed to get the one shot to break the tie.

My opposing skip is no dummy. He had won the club mens’ singles championship two years before; but, he made a quick and instinctive decision that would have been right for him at singles but was blatantly wrong for his team.

It’s more fun to learn from others’ mistakes than from your own! Take heed. Always consider the competencies of your team.

Revisiting the Running Shot for Taking Out an Opposing Bowl at Lawn Bowls

Sometimes I forget what I have already been taught; so, it is a good thing that I reread my own posts occasionally! While I was working on a blog about removing an opponent’s single shot bowl, I vaguely recollected that the ’running shot’  was somehow connected with this. I found my article and guess what? - I was improperly using  drive and yard-on shots, each of which employs a different technique.

Rather than just linking to my original blog article I am reproducing the section describing the running shot here. I have subsequently followed the instructions and can confirm that the method works!

Running Shot

 The running shot, it is generally agreed, is more accurate than the drive shot. It is only when many bowls must be dispersed that the extra energy of a drive shot is needed. The running shot is purposed for a precise excision of bowl(s) from the head while the drive is a grenade into the head! In common practice, the drive is often used when the running shot is a better choice. The delivery of the running shot begins with the delivery arm holding the bowl hanging vertical and the body bent from the waist to bring the bowl close to the ground. Some players use a little backswing for this shot but no backswing is preferred. In setting a target point, reduce the draw width by two thirds and use this new aim line to set a target on that new line next to the object to be displaced. All running shots are delivered with the same weight: ditch weight. Swing the bowl a time or two along the aim line. The shot is delivered by pushing off with the stationary foot and taking a big step forward close and parallel to the aim line pulling the bowl with your body movement and pushing the bowl along the aim line to the target with your arm muscles. The idea is that consistency in the length of step and in the application of muscular force through the arm and fingers will produce a reproducible weight that is at least ditch weight. The backswing is minimized because it is this swing than can most often throw your body off line and cause aiming inaccuracy.